An assessment of the performance of concrete at Concepcion-Licaros building

• Main Author: Villaverde, Bernard S.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2003
• Subjects: Construction industry > Philippines; Engineering firms > Philippines; Civil Engineering
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/6022; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etd_masteral/article/12759/viewcontent/CDTG003558_P__1_.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

The author had undergone an on-the-job training at vnr villaseñor and associates. He was assigned in one of their projects which is the Assessment of the Performance of Concrete at Concepcion-Licaros Building. The Concepcion-Licaros Building is an eight story with basement and roof deck reinforced concrete structure designed in 1966 and constructed sometime in 1969. The Building was originally designed for future expansion of two additional floors as indicated in the structural drawings (S-13). The building therefore was designed as a ten- story building. This indicates that the structure as designed shall be able to carry 25% more load than its current capacity. Ocular inspections or visual inspections reveal that the structure has undergone normal wear and tear. There are signs of deferred maintenance and minor structural damage. Field tests show that the concrete strength is about 16.1 Mpa, 4.6 Mpa lower than the specified 28th day concrete compressive strength of 20.7 Mpa. The apparent deterioration assuming the average in– situ concrete strength reached its design value may be attributable to concrete deterioration with age. This lower concrete strength negates the additional load carrying capacity of the entire structure. As recommended by the consultant, since the building was not designed to conform to current structural code’s safety and reliability requirements, there is a need to undertake retrofit measures to upgrade the buildings capability to withstand earthquake forces. To improve the live load carrying capacity of the building, the concrete floor topping may be removed and replaced by lighter floor finish material. Based on the author’s observations, the company should have done the assessment and investigation in a greater detail and in more accuracy to increase the reliability of the resulting recommendations. Moreover, to improve the company’s performance in their future projects, it needs to adopt a holistic approach in determining the condition of concrete structures before considering the expensive and elaborate rehabilitation procedure. A systematic evaluation of the concrete can eventually help save substantial amount of repair cost.